A Million Junes

by Emily Henry

Julia Whelan (Narrator)

"A beautiful, lyrical, and achingly brilliant story about love, grief, and family. Henry's writing will leave you breathless." —BuzzFeed


Romeo and Juliet meets One Hundred Years of Solitude in Emily Henry's brilliant follow-up to The Love That Split the World, about the daughter and son of two long-feuding families who fall in love while trying to uncover the truth about the strange magic and harrowing curse that has plagued their bloodlines for generations. 
 
In their hometown of Five Fingers, Michigan, the O'Donnells and the Angerts have mythic legacies. But for all the tall tales they weave, both founding families are tight-lipped about what caused the century-old rift between them, except to say it began with a cherry tree.
 
Eighteen-year-old Jack “June” O’Donnell doesn't need a better reason than that. She's an O'Donnell to her core, just like her late father was, and O'Donnells stay away from Angerts. Period.
 
But when Saul Angert, the son of June's father's mortal enemy, returns to town after three mysterious years away, June can't seem to avoid him. Soon the unthinkable happens: She finds she doesn't exactly hate the gruff, sarcastic boy she was born to loathe. 
 
Saul’s arrival sparks a chain reaction, and as the magic, ghosts, and coywolves of Five Fingers conspire to reveal the truth about the dark moment that started the feud, June must question everything she knows about her family and the father she adored. And she must decide whether it's finally time for her—and all of the O'Donnells before her—to let go.

• ISBN10: 1524756105
• ISBN13: 9781524756109
• Publish Date: 16 May 2017
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Out of Print: 5 March 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Listening Library
• Edition: Unabridged edition
• Format: Audiobook (CD)
• Duration: 10 hours and 30 minutes
• Language: English

Reviews

[ladygrey]

I was told this would be like [a:Sarah Addison Allen|566874|Sarah Addison Allen|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1372537232p2/566874.jpg] and [a:Kasie West|5027236|Kasie West|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1450586450p2/5027236.jpg] combined. Which to me sounds like the absolute perfect combination. After reading, I think it's quite a bit more Allen and only West in a few witty moments. But that doesn't make it any less wonderful.

The magical realism is lyrical and the characters are genuine and dynamic and it's easy enjoy the story as it unravels. In many ways it's powerful and vivid in its truthfulness. Also, it used a word I've never heard before which like hasn't happened in more years than I'd like to admit to.

I did think the last third was quite a bit different than the first two. and not just because the first two are all about questions but because they're all about Saul and June and discovery and this really delightful dynamic between them. The last third kind of felt like it was all the same thing again and again and there was a lot less of June and Saul together in it.

Also, I couldn't escape that comparison to Sarah Addison Allen. If this is like any of her books, it's the most like [b:The Peach Keeper|8546358|The Peach Keeper|Sarah Addison Allen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320549305l/8546358._SY75_.jpg|13414212] which is also about generational curses (of a sort) and understanding the past sets characters free in the present. It's truly a beautiful book. And so as much as I really did like A Million Junes, it being so similar to The Peach Keeper made me want it to be more like The Peach Keeper. Because the resolution of A Million Junes delves out of magical realism into straight up fantasy. And one of the beautiful things about Allen's books is that, as saturated as they are with magic, the resolution is always grounded in reality. They're revelations that change a character's perspective on the past, or set them free from some lie they've lived with their whole life, or allow them to let go of anger or forgive someone or... it's based around very practical, grounded emotions. That's the delightful thing about it because that transformation relatable - it's the sort of thing any of us could find, a promise that we too can forgive, can be set free from bitterness or create healing in our lives. And maybe just by reading the story we are set free a little.

And while the message about letting go of the past is universal, the execution as our characters cross the veil and walk through this fantastical landscape and have to wash the past off each other is so singular to their situation that it feels very far way from us (or at least me).

[a:Robin McKinley|5339|Robin McKinley|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1314406026p2/5339.jpg] (whose writing I also love) also tends to go pretty abstract in her climaxes and it's the one thing that I don't particularly love about her stories. So, when A Million Junes separated Saul and June and then veered deep into the fantasy realm it faltered for me.

But even with that, I still ridiculously enjoyed A Million Junes and would heartily recommend it to my book club, to my friends and pretty much to anyone who asked (except maybe my brothers).

[jesstheaudiobookworm]

4.75★ Audiobook⎮ A Million Junes was a really magical story. I don’t hear a lot of magical realism, so it sort of took me by surprise. By nature, it had this “one foot in the real world and another foot in a fantasy world” vibe that was both eerie and beautiful.

I found it extremely easy to suspend my disbelief for A Million Junes. It was also an incredibly easy listen. I credit Emily Henry’s poetic, yet still down to earth, writing style. It suited the genre perfectly. It wasn’t magical in a fairytale sort of way, per se. It was more like a daydream when your physical body is one place, but your mind is worlds away and you’re aware of both at the same time. Or like that in between place when you’re just waking up in the morning, but not yet fully awake, just hovering somewhere above total consciousness. Yeah, A Million Junes is just like that and it was an amazing experience.

There was also this Romeo and Juliet thing going on that worked better than I would have thought. Don’t get me wrong, that angle is still completely overplayed, but Henry managed to make it work surprisingly well. The rest of the story was fresh enough to keep an old angle from going stale.

The multigenerational aspect of the story was something I thought could have been played up a bit more. I loved Junior and the fact that she is a she, despite being named Jack O’Donnell IV (how very Rory Gilmore of her). But I wish the story had been broken up a little more, possibly with multiple POVs. Still, the incorporation of the wisps was a unique way to give us and the main character first-hand insight into the past, albeit in an indirect nature.

The only thing that slightly bothered me about A Million Junes was that, by the end, it began to feel like it was dragging on and becoming repetitive. Henry could have ended it an hour sooner without any loss of quality. With that said, I still absolutely adore A Million Junes and Emily Henry’s writing. My fingers are still crossed that The Love That Split the World will be available as an audiobook soon. I’ve had my eye on it for a while because of its intriguing premise, and now that I know how much I love Emily Henry’s writing style, I’m even more eager to get my ears on it!

Narration review: Julia Whelan is an amazing narrator. We all know this, don’t we? At this point, after hearing so many of her titles, I’ve come to think of her amazingness as more of a fact than an opinion. I’ve picked up countless of her titles just because they were her titles. Her narration can raise even mediocre storytelling to epic heights.

Needless to say, her performance in A Million Junes did not disappoint. This was an incredible experience on audiobook and I definitely recommend the audio version in order to capture the full impact of it. ♣︎

[Quirky Cat]

A Million Junes is a slow burn kind of book. It starts out sounding more like literary fiction than fantasy, but slowly it bleeds more and more from one to the other. It happens so naturally you almost don’t even notice it. Because of the slow start, it did take me a little while to get into it (I kept putting the book down for breaks and such) but once I hit the halfway mark I was pretty invested in seeing what happened to the characters.



Warnings first: There are some animal deaths in this book. They are quick and thankfully not very detailed. These occur as a sign that bigger events are about to happen.
Emily Henry has provided a book that is one part literary fiction, one part fantasy, and one part love story. The end result is an inspirational book about the ability to remember the past without letting it consume you. I felt that there were several poignant points made throughout the novel, particularly relevant for some events happening in my life at the time I was reading it. I am grateful for the perspective this book provided me.
June O’Donnell lives in a magic house, on magic land. The majesty and beauty of the land is tainted by a curse on her family; the very same curse is the cause of contention between her family and the Angerts. The whole feud (and reason for the quarrel) is very reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet, which I’m sure was intentional. It’s even joked about once or twice. I love the little added twist that the two main characters are both budding writers, it seems like an appropriate hat tip.
June and her supposed sworn enemy (but actual true love) Saul Angert use the magic of the land to catch glimpses of the past; allowing them to simultaneously see lost family members, and to solve the mystery their family refuses to explain to them; why the O’Donnells and the Angerts hate each other so much. Both of them have lost somebody very precious to them, so the memories they are granted are heartbreaking, yet they can’t bring themselves to stop searching them out.
I really enjoyed Emily Henry’s writing style; it felt to almost stroll along in an unhurried manner, while still taking you to the point before it got tedious. It resulted in a relaxing and enjoyable read (the only exception being during the culmination of all the events, of course). The conclusion supported some of the points Henry wanted to make; such as how to learn to let go and the persistence of memory. Overall I found this to be a worthwhile read and am glad I took the time to do so.


For more reviews, check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

[nightingalereads]

I normally don't enjoy magical realism, but A Million Junes lived up to all my hopeful expectations. This book contains one of my favorite commentaries on grief - so many quotes I felt on a personal level. June and Saul are such unique and real-feeling characters, connected by their loss and sharing a sharp sense of humor. I appreciated how June's best friend, Hannah, also feels like her own person. She has her own individual wants and motivations. Basically, she's not a prop character at all, which I feel is a pitfall for a lot of "side" characters.

This is my first book by Emily Henry and I found her writing clever, vivid, and insightful. I'll definitely be picking up another one of her novels!

Sidenote: Though they're obviously different stories, if you love the Raven Cycle I feel like you'll enjoy this book too.

[Sam@WLABB]

These are tears of joy, people, tears of joy.



This book was so beautiful!
Review to follow.

BLOG|INSTAGRAM|BLOGLOVIN| FRIEND ME ON GOODREADS